2 hearts beat as one
by rangerdanger985
Summary: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder thats what she was told by her mother when she was young. love comes from the heart no mater the appearance the love is directed toured. but dose she care enough when the man she falls in love with changes overnight? and if she does, will he be able to accept it? find out in this next installment part 4 of 'lets play a game!
1. Chapter 1

She should have expected it she really should have, things had been going to good recently for something not to go ass up donkey shit drunk nuclear melt done mode.

She had expected it to be one of them, either for Natasha to kill one of them in their sleep or her brother to blow up half the tower.

Turns out she was the one doing the blowing up.

Though it was less of a blowing up the lab and more of a blowing up in her face.

Now she and Steve had been going out randomly to dinner or fixing dinner and settling down in the living room to watch a movie and snuggle, yes she was a stark and a snuggle whore give it a break, and she had discovered they were both very protective of each other when it came to threats.

Her nearly getting taken out by a huge robot taking a hit for Steve even after they'd had a huge fight and hadn't talked for a week kind of proved that.

Anyway, currently she was standing in front of a machine she and her brother had been trying to figure out since it was discovered in a hydra base they had found and shut down two weeks ago.

So when the unnamed device suddenly started whirring when she hadn't done anything more than plugged in to run a diagnostics to see what it was programed to do, she got a little worried.

Now five minutes later she had tried everything but it wouldn't shut down, she had even removed its power source!

When it started sparking wildly and she suddenly had the thick scent of burning ozone in her nose she knew it wasn't good, some kind of purple glow focusing on the end of what looked like an antennae ray.

She backed up and heard the door to the lab open but barely had time to shout a warning before it fired.

Next thing she knew the lights were flickering she was temporarily blinded and also on the floor held tightly in Steve's arms.

She sighed heavily and patted his chest "thanks for the save Stevie" when he didn't respond she frowned and sat up his arm falling from her side she graved his shoulder and shook him "Steve? Steve! Come on ice brain wake up" he groaned softly

And she sighed as the lights came back on fully "that's it babe, can you open those pretty eyes for me" he groaned again body going tense then suddenly relaxing and his eyes blinked open for a second she thought they were purple but she blinked and they were blue.

She sighed in relief when he reached up to rub his head "what hit me?" he asked she shook her head "I don't know, I don't even know how this thing turned on, I did not hit the green button!"

He snorted at her rolling his eyes a little before taking the hand she offered to help him up.

"Any clue what this thing is now?" she looked at him "other than knowing it shoots pretty purple lights? Not a clue, seems like it burned your shirt when it hit you" she motioned to his back where a hole had been burned "but didn't even effect your skin"

She snapped her fingers "maybe it's a clothing incinerator!" he snorted again looking at her, she noticed he'd become use to her sarcasm surprisingly fast.

"you wish" she shrugged then patted his arm "thanks for the save babe" she saw a faint pink tent raise to his jaw and smiled wider "what'd you come down here for?" she asked tossing aside her safety glasses "foods done" she looked at him eyes lighting up "ohh! You know just how to get to me Rogers" she bolted up the stairs "last one there dose the dishes"

He laughed and followed her up the stairs neither of them noticed the faint blue glow that lingered around the antennae array of the machine before withering and disappearing completely.

Lunch that day was fried chicken, as usual everyone got two maybe three pieces, but she and Steve got a chicken.

She took one bite off a drum stick then grinned at nick who seemed to be around less and less as school continued "have I ever said I love you? Because I do, I swear I am never letting you leave here again, I'm gonna chain you to the island so you have to cook for me forever"

Nicks cheeks reddened slightly and he ducked his head to hide his smile muttering a bashful 'thank you' she grinned at him then dug back in.

A couple minutes later she was distracted from her food yet again, this time by Steve who was more picking at his food than eating it.

Her brows knitted together as she turned her head to look at him whipping her mouth on a napkin as she did "chicken not taste good to ya Stevie?" he glanced up at the nickname she had been calling him by more and more lately then shook his head.

"No its good, I just, I don't know I'm not that hungry I guess" satisfied she took another bite off her drum stick "you did have three omelets this morning" he angled his head toured her "that could be it" something still dug at her in the back of her mind that something was wrong.

She cleaned her plate of everything but bones, then nagged a wing from Steve's plate he rolled his eyes and pushed it over so she could have better access and she smiled approvingly.  
"aww aint that cute" tony said from in front of them "fuck off bro" she muttered around a piece of thigh "language" Steve said almost absently she made a face when she thought he wasn't looking.

"I saw that" she made a noise of despair and the others laughed.

After everyone had finished and she had finished the dishes she turned back toured Steve "you sure you're alright?" she asked now that everyone had left them alone.

She walked over and leaned against the island when he looked at her "you didn't eat very much even by your standards" he shrugged "I don't know, I just, wasn't hungry"

She made a humming noise scratching at what use to be a scan in the middle of her chin from falling into a coffee table as child, when she told Steve that story he'd laughed for almost ten minutes straight.

"Whatever that purple beam was, it could have messed with your stomach, come on, I want Bruce to have a look at you, just in case" he sighed and got up "lead the way"

30 minutes later Bruce had just run the file test and turned back toured him "everything looks fine, what did you say happened again?"

She sat down on the medical bed behind Steve who sat on the end and kicked her feet "the machine we found turned itself on wouldn't turn off even after I pulled the power source, then did a pretty purple light show right into his back, it burned right through his shirt"

Bruce made a huh sound "I was wondering why you changed shirts" he muttered "but it didn't touch his skin, I looked not even a scrape" Bruce scratched his ear "well I don't know what to tell you, maybe hydra hadn't finished it yet, maybe you were really lucky, maybe it really was just a super-heated light show and the cotton in your shirt dispersed the ions enough for it to collapse in on itself"

Beth was humming still kicking her feet then she shrugged "thanks anyway Bruce, come on big guy" she graved Steve's arm by his elbow and pulled him until he was standing and lead him out of the lab "I think it's about time for a movie marathon"

Steve sighed fondly, trying to fake a put upon look but the smile ruined it "just none of those super hero ones they did about me ok? I don't Wanna sit for the next few hours pointing out everything they got wrong" she grinned at him.

"So long as you don't mind acting in the role of pillow that's fine by me"


	2. Chapter 2

They chose B-rated horror films from the early forties a few of them he remembered going to see, she was quite comfortable laying against Steve's chest as he sat leaned back against the arm of the couch.

She fit perfectly between his legs and his collar bones made a nice pillow, a few times as she laid there watching the movie she felt him nudging the top of her head with his cheek or nose smelling her vanilla and lavender shampoo or randomly kissing the top of her head.

She felt his hands resting large and hot against her spine randomly stroking her as her arms stayed draped around his waist.

She didn't comment on the petting or nudges she knew the man was affectionate and more than likely making up for lost time.

He'd blushed tomato red the first time shed lain on him like this, had buried his face in her hair to hide it which really had just made him blush harder.

Truth be told it was a first for her and she kind of enjoyed it, letting someone hold her like this knowing nothing was expected from it, in the time they had been dating the most they had done was kiss and cuddle but they were just fine with that.

She herd someone approaching and glanced up at her brother who made a disgusted face "EW, pepper their all touchy feely again" he complained she looked at for mentioned woman who was smiling and shaking her head.

"hi pep" she greeted not moving the woman smiled at her then swatted at tony pulling him over to a love seat where she promptly curled up against him she snickered to herself as someone fake screamed on the TV and Steve nudged her again she felt him kissing no wait, he was saying something.

"Be nice" she snorted into his chest but smiled when he swatted her shoulder lightly instead balancing her chin on his chest to pout at him.

He glanced down with a smile then bent to give her a quick kiss.

Tony spoke up from across the room "eeeewwwwwwwwwww" the only reason she didn't throw a pillow at his face was because pepper was cuddled up to him and she looked tired.

That and pepper smacked him, did she ever mention she loved that woman?

That night she was up until three AM trying to figure out what the hell that machine did and what it could have possibly done to Steve, she fell asleep in the cot shoved in the corner as she was running diagnostics again this time the machine sealed in into own box so if it did go off no one would get hit.

She was waken early the next day by a beeping on the computer she had plugged into the machine and rubbing her eyes she got up and went to it kicking the machine when it seemed to try and make that whirring sound again.

"Don't even think about it" the fact she was talking to inanimate objects was less concerning then what was on the screen of the computer.

It was all encoded.

She sighed rubbing the bridge of her nose "hey JARVIS? Can you start trying to decode this?"

"Yes ma'am" there was a moment of silence then the AI spoke again "it appears the code is damaged ma'am, it will a little while to decipher it" she sighed "that's ok jarv, just do the best you can"  
With a yawn she turned from the machine and went upstairs in search of coffee before she was half way down the hall she herd raised voices and went to investigate.

"What happened?"

"I don't know!"

"How did you end up like that?"

"I woke up like this!"

She heard the yelling before she even got to where the voices were coming from, one of them was Steve the other sounded like tony.

Rubbing at one of her eyes she walked into the main room she could hear laughing defiantly her brothers it sounded almost hysterical "who knew you were suck a pipsqueak!"

She sighed rubbing her eyes as she entered the room "tony what the hell -"

She stopped when she opened her eyes and saw a young man looking at her, he was small and thin, but blond with blue eyes and wearing oversized sleeping clothes

She stuttered and tripped over her tongue "st-Steve?" his mouth twisted slightly and she immediately knew it was him.

"kind of ridicules isn't it Lizzy, who knew he was so small" Steve glared best he could at her brother clenching his jaw "shut the hell up stark!" he said "oh captain America cursing what's the world come to?!"

Her brother was still laughing "tony now isn't the time, we need to figure out what happened to me I can't be of any use like this and what if something happens and-"

He suddenly stopped face reddening just a little and not in the way Beth liked to tease him about one of his hands covered by a sleeve rose to his mouth and he started coughing unable to catch his breath.

Tony had stopped laughing and she was moving toured the man without even releasing it "n-not again" he huffed to himself then nearly jumped when her hand landed on his shoulder.

He stared at her eyes wide and gasping for breath she moved her hand to his back rubbing softly "easy babe" she soothed quietly tony was staring she knew he was "damn I forgot you had ever desires known to man when you were. Well. You know before"

Steve nodded once jerkily being careful he didn't give himself a worst asthma attack comforted by Beth's hand rubbing soothingly across his back "get Bruce" Steve said.

"Doctor Banner has already been alerted and is on his was captain Rogers" Jarvis said she glanced up "thanks jarv"

Just then Bruce came around the corner "what seems to be the problem?" he asked and she shifted away just enough he could see Steve but not enough to remove her hand from his back.

"Oh"

That was what she thought at first to.


	3. Chapter 3

Three hours of testing later showed Steve was as perfectly healthy, or at least as healthy as he had been in the 1940's before the serum which was note very.

With each new thing Bruce named off Steve seemed to get smaller and smaller, his large personality sinking to the size of a fly as he was faced with every ailment he had thought left behind 70 years ago.

When he walked out he was dragging his feet head hanging like he was ashamed.

Beth stayed to talk to Bruce for a few minutes "I don't understand" the doctor said scratching his head "it's like the serum was deactivated, or never even given to him"

She tilted her head to the side a little "do you think it could have worn off?" the man shrugged "it's been 70 years though he was frozen the formula could have been wearing off" she bit her lip "they made a new serum with his blood you think with the notes and some of mine you could make another?"

Bruce slumped heavily into his chair and rubbed his eyes "it's possible" when he looked up she was already bearing her arm "then do it"

20 minutes later he had a pint of her blood and she had described everything they did to her when they'd given her the final treatment.

When she walked out of the lab she looked up as if she could see him "jarv where is he?" she asked "in bed ma'am" she sighed and turned toured her room.

She found him curled up in her bed for all intents and purposes looking like a depressed sweet roll, just a glimpse of his hair visible above the blankets.

He didn't react as she walked inside and closed the door "hey" she said but didn't expect a reply, the bundle of blankets rolled tighter "you Wanna talk about it?" she approached on silent feet and saw him curl tighter "no" he muffled from the blankets.

Standing close enough she saw he looked tiny in her large bed, curled into a fetal position like he could block out the world if he curled tight enough and had enough blankets.

He didn't seem to expect her to lay down behind him on top of the blankets and throw an arm over him pressing her nose against his hair to inhale the sweet lavender scent of him; he'd been using her soap again.

She felt him uncurl a little and turn his head to look at her and she smiled at her awestruck expression.

He had doe eyes like this, big and blue, she would say vulnerable but Steven g Rogers was anything but vulnerable even if he was smaller.

She reached out to trail a finger over his cheek bone face propped on her other fist "what are you doing?" he looked genuinely surprised and she rose a brow at him in what tony had come to call her 'why are you asking stupid questions' look.

"I was up late last night so I figured I'd come lay with my radiator boyfriend and get some sleep" she liked the way he blushed every time she called him her boyfriend of babe or even when she called him Stevie sometimes, this time was no different.

He ducked his head slightly muttering about not being that warm she shrugged "either way I am that cold so share" she tugged at the blankets and wormed her way beneath them.

He didn't seem to might when she slid her arm around him again tucking his head under her chin so she could bury her nose in his hair.

That was the last time he let her hold him.

Over the next week he began to drastically pull away from her, sliding away when she reached out for him like he hadn't seen her, but she knew he did because he would always look at her guiltily when she finally got him to look at her.

Bruce was no closer to creating another serum and JARVIS was barely making any headway on decoding the machine.

Each time he denied her touch it felt like a dagger being shoved that much farther into her heart, so she started to bury herself in her work when he absolutely refused to let her be near him.

Not that there was much work for her to do other than sign papers and redesign her suit in ways that would be too difficult clunky or dangerous and shed scrap the idea.

Any of the times she managed to get him to sit down and watch a movie with her he either sat on the very opposite end of the couch or in a different chair entirely, shed barely pay attention to the movie, to busy glancing at Steve, hands itching to touch him and smooth his hair like had become habit.

Long story short she was miserable the last straw was when she reached over him to grave something out of the fridge and he jerked violently away from her whole body going stiff and she reacted like she had been burned.

She let out an aggravated breath slamming her hand and incitingly coffee cup on the counter, causing the cup to break and stab at her palm spilling coffee across the counter.

"what the hell is your problem!" he looked at her surprised by her outburst which it was surprising since she never rose her voice, he'd never seen her like that.

"I don't have a problem" she narrowed her eyes at him "then why is it every time you think I'm going to touch you you react like I have the plague?" he furrowed his brows at her "what are you talking about?"

She pointed to the fridge "just now when I was reaching for the milk you acted like I was trying to get you in a choke hold and for the last three days you've acted like you barely tolerated my presence"

He turned as if to walk away "I don't know what you're talking about" and she bolted in graving him "you're not walking away from me this time Steve" she was momentarily surprised by how little he weighed as she picked him up and sat him on the counter hands placed firmly on either side of him so he couldn't escape.

"You're going to tell me what it is that's bugging you or I swear to god Steve you won't like the consequences" his face went red this time with anger and he got in her face just as much as she had in his.

"I'm tired of you comparing" that, caught her off guard and she pulled back a little "Wha?" she said unintelligently "I know I'm not like I use to be but every time were in the same room I can feel you looking at me and comparing the way I am now to how I was and I know I should just accept the way I am that I had my run and now it's over, I get it I need to accept it because this is the way it's always been and I-"

She reached out and covered his mouth with her hand, saw the way he looked up at her shocked as she rubbed her head "no you haven't accepted it, you've been fighting, one battle after another even when you don't relised it and you're still fighting"

She looked him strait in the eye removing her hand from his mouth so he could breathe more freely "losing faith in your abilities, feeling your body betrays you. I know what it's like to lose faith in ever being able to lay in the grass on a summers day feel the heat of the sun on your skin and smell the cleanness of it without choking on your own breath"

Her hands clenched on the counter nails digging into her palms "I know what it's like, and as I look at you know I see you aren't giving up, you aren't losing faith, I know what that looks like, I use to stair it in the eye for years, and you haven't lost it"

He was staring at her eyes wide so she just ducked her head resting her forehead against his chest "I'm not comparing you Steve, I fell in love with you how can I" he paused for a moment she felt his breath stutter before reaching up to stroke her hair "but how can you love me? I mean look at me!" she shifted away slightly making her look at him and spread his arms as if to prove his point while he spoke.

"I'm a scrawny runt who loses his breath just walking up a flight of stairs! The man you fell in love with is gone" she sighed to herself shaking her head and put a hand against his chest "no he isn't, I fell in love with this, I fell in love with the man that hates bullies, the man who saved a thousand men in the dead of winter 20 miles behind enemy lines alone, I fell in love with the man that wouldn't stay down no matter how beaten he was, the one that put everyone before himself even if he was freezing starving or sick"

She looked him in the eyes again for just a moment before leaning in to kiss him the gentle press of her lips against his own warm and more comforting than anything shed ever felt before.

She pulled away after a minute and rested her forehead against his eyes closed for a moment "I fell in love with something that is more than a physical appearance" she opened her eyes watching as he opened his own and reached up to stroke his cheek smiling "there he is"

Steve smiled slowly at her "how did I ever get lucky enough to find you?" she shrugged "the way I remember it you didn't think you were so lucky when we first met"

He chuckled to himself "that's true" she smiled at him "but I grew on you" when he grinned at her it was just as stunning as it always was and took away her breath "like mold" she grinned and stole another kiss before stepping away letting him slide off the counter.

She looked at the mess her coffee cup had made and winced before looking at him "go find us something to watch while I clean this up" he smiled genuinely and nodded walking toured the main room "and Steve?"

He stopped in the door way to look at her brows risen "yeah?" she smiled at him calmly "please, don't pull away from me like that again okay? I'm not great when it comes to relationships, tell me next time if something's bothering you" he smiled slowly chuckling at himself.

"since the last attempt I made at a relationship ended with me a human glacier I'm not any better, but I will" with that he turned and went to the living room to find a movie.

One she had thrown away the broken mug and cleaned up the spilled coffee she walked into the darkened room and found Steve stretched out on the couch the beginning titles to a movie she recognized at the boat house beginning on the TV in front of it.

She smiled at the blonde as she leaned over the back of the couch to look at him "the boat house? I didn't know you were such a romantic" he glanced up at her and shrugged "looked interesting" she smirked and came around the couch.

He sat up so she could settle against her preferred side of the couch but seemed surprised when she turned and pulled him into her chest glancing dawn she saw him blushing and looking up at her "you don't mind do you?"

He shook his head and shifted until he was comfortable his back against her chest, legs drawn up slightly she smiled and wrapped her arms so they surrounded him loosely, holding onto her own forearm with one hand she noticed how small he was now.

Only a few weeks ago she knew she wouldn't have been able to hold him like this and decided to enjoy it while it lasted.

At some point in the movie she felt him grave her arm and looked down just as he leaned his head against her opposite one, tiny body relaxed, she bent her head just enough to nudge his hair with her nose like he always did to her and smiled when he tilted his head to glanced at her, a drowsy smile on his lips.

His brows rose when he saw what had to be a strange look on her face "what?" he asked and she just shook her head smiling softly she dipped her head to nuzzle his shallow cheek "just watch the movie baby"

She both saw and felt his face heat up when she said that and couldn't help her faint chuckle as she pulled him just a little tighter, careful she didn't hurt him by accident.

She truly did love this man, so much.

And he seemed to finally believe that.


	4. Chapter 4

Over the next two days she slowly started to get Steve use to her touching him again, a nudge here, a clapped hand there.

She also got him use to her taking care of him when he had an asthma attack or dizzy or weak spells, staying up with him through the night when he got some kind of 24 hour bug.

It all added up to where on the third day she was able to walk up behind him and throw her arms over his shoulders and he wouldn't react even when she rested her chin on the top of his head.

Without the serum it turned out Steve was only 5ft and 4in tall, just short enough to fit into her 6ft body perfectly like her own use to against his 6ft 2in frame.

She had to admit, being the holder for once felt nice.

The first time she saw him pulling out that sketch book of his again was when she was just waking up from a midafternoon nap.

Before her eyes opened she herd the telltale skritching of a pencil on paper and her lips curled slightly "if your drawing me I get to kick your ass" she muttered "language" he said absently and she opened one eye to look at him he sat legs crossed at the edge of her bed the pad balanced on his lap and he was smiling.

It was nice to see him smiling.

She watched almost hypnotized as his hands moved across the paper, long artists fingers darkened with charcoal dust standing out against his pale skin.

She liked the way it made him relax the thin line of tension always held in his small body abating the way it only ever did when he was in her arms, while he was distracted with the pad and paper she took the opportunity to actually look at him.

Steve wasn't just skin and bones like he was saying but it was a near thing, he had lithe muscles over his arms and chest, he lacked any kind of body fat, enough so she could see just a hint of his ribs pressed against his skin.

But while his skin was strangely pale it wasn't sickly so, and though he was thin it was to the extent he looked like he had anemia, he had a healthy appetite even if he ate a lot less than usual, yet he still had the same charm as when he was huge.

His hair was like strands of gold and his eyes were a deep pale blue, barely a shade lighter than they use to be, maybe just little brighter but they still had the pale grey flecks.

His eyelashes cast shadows over his cheeks, pale enough they looked white, and though his cheekbones stood out his cheeks weren't concave like most people she had seen that were his size, and she had seen a lot of them.

She didn't honestly know why she bothered trying to compare him to other people; he was as incomparable like this as he was after the serum.

She saw him glance up and pause in his work to look at her more fully, light catching his hair and making it shine just right "what's that dopey smile for?" he had one brow risen in a look shed come to think of as a curios amusement.

Shaking her head she pushed herself up "nothing, I'm just thinking" at his silence she motioned toured the book on his lap "well are you going to show me or not?" he suddenly went read "uhh..." she rose her own brow at the man then sat up fully and copied his position.

"Come ooooooonnn. I never get to sseeeeeeee" she whined and pouted for the extra effect, all it did was make him laugh "ok fine" she grinned and scrambled across the bed before he could change his mind.

Beth settled down behind him her legs on one said rest of her on the other she kept herself propped up on one arm to look over a slim shoulder.

The page had a few random etching on it but the largest was of her lying on her stomach as she had been with a blanket over her waist and tangled around her legs, one of her arms tucked under the pillow the other resting by her face which was peaceful and relaxed with sleep.

Her lips parted eyes lightly closed and her hair falling gently over her forehead, her brows shot up at the detail and likeness of the drawing then she turned her head to grin at Steve who was watching her and waiting for her judgment.

"I like your subject matter" she said turning to lean back on her elbows "it's very me" he snorted at her, leaning back to rest against the knee she had risen "your straying to sound as shallow as your brother"

Her grin got wide enough it hurt her face "where do you think her got it from? Didn't you know? All my brothers' best habits came from me"

Steve perked a brow at her "recklessly throwing himself into situations that serve no purpose other than to show off, test his armor, or get himself maimed?" she shrugged "so he picked up a few of the less appealing ones, and if memory serves which one of us threw himself at people three times their size?"

His face heated up again "if memory serves both of us" she paused then made humming sound "eh it's true" she bent forward and nuzzled his hair "but you know you love it" then flopped back down on her back.

There was a moment of silence before she heard him shifting "yeah I do" then he slumped until he lay against her stomach, she reached out to stroke his hair and smiled when he leaned into the touch.


	5. Chapter 5

The peace couldn't last forever, Mr. sciency robot guy came back again and this time the robots had flamethrowers.

Steve hated that he couldn't help and could only watch as they suited up and went after him, though he seemed impressed she she graved the blue and silver shield she had given him and said she was borrowing it.

She made quite a picture fighting with plasma sword and vibranium shield.

He couldn't help noticing the way when she threw it she copied him perfectly, he remembered all the times he'd felt like someone was watching him when he practiced his throw.

Apparently someone had.

He worried and stressed enough that he nearly gave himself an anxiety and an asthma attack at the same time.

JARVIS seemed worried asking about his heath but he reassured the AI that he was fine even as his chest got tight, it felt like an asthma attack but he knew it wasn't, he was worried, deeply worried, about Beth.

It was almost 20 hours until they returned, the fight itself had only taken about 10 but the debriefing and medical checks took longer.

When Beth came stumbling in armor burned and singed, bruises on different parts of her body that he knew would fade by morning, no one came out of the fight with more than a few scratches and bruises, Clint might have fractured his arm but he'd heal alright.

It was kind of funny when Steve thought about it, the strongest and most protected in the group other than tony, and he was worried about her the most.

She muttered a greeting when she saw him and fell onto the couch with a groan still in full armor.

"You alright?" he questioned worried that maybe she had gotten hurt somehow she just gave a jerking nod "just had a long day at the office babe" she barely seemed able to get up from where she collapsed.

Pressing something on the chest of her suit he watched as it started to retract, the seals hissing as they were relised and finally she stepped out of the boots and she was free, the suit folding itself into what looked like s long luggage case sat on its side, this new design while looking almost the same was stronger and closer to the mark 42 of her brothers while still holding the unmistakable appearance of the 'iron jacket' armor.

Apparently it was also heavier if the way she was rotating her shoulders was anything to go by.

"You have no idea how lucky your suit was made with spandex" he made a face at her when she collapsed back on the couch in just the short sleeve shirt and track pants she wore under it.

The shirt was another one of those captain America ones she seemed to have an endless supply of.

"It's not spandex" he replied indignantly and smiled up at him lying on her back head in his lap "fine very tight form fitting cloth. Jeez" she stretched out toes pointing and touching the other arm of the large couch "you can love something forever until you have to wear it for 20 hours strait. Now I want to set it on fire" he patted her head "but you won't" she sighed as if she was exasperated.

"Yeah I won't that doesn't stop" she cut herself off with a large yawn "doesn't stop me from wanting to" her eyes were closed and fluttered when he started stroking her hair "I'm glad you're alright" she hummed lips turning into a smile.

"Where's the others?" he had to ask "they'll be here eventually. Second I had a chance I ditched that horse and pony show and came here" he snorted "so you cut class basically"

She nodded then sighed relaxing "I need a vacation, I'm taking a vacation, Wanna come?" she opened one eye to glance up at him "sure where we going?"

With a smile she settled back against him being careful not to hurt him, he could always tell the way she adjusted to not hurt his smaller more delicate form and found he didn't mind so much.

"out of the city" then she closed her eyes and refused to answer any of his questions after that no matter how much he needled her so he just sighed and let her go to sleep having JARVIS pull up the movie adaption of a book he'd finished the night before.

It was another hour before everyone else returned and while tony gave his sister a dirty look he just sighed and collapsed into an arm chair, his suit having come apart when he landed.

Clint and Natasha came wandering in from the kitchen and handed out a sandwich to Steve and tony leaving a large one on the coffee table for when Beth woke up then collapsed on the floor on top of each other as was habit for them.

When Bruce wandered in he took the final chair the love seat that sat across from the recliner tony had commandeered.

Somehow it turned into a unconventional movie night that ended with most of them falling asleep where they sat and Beth barely waking up long enough to devour her sandwich before returning to her resting place in his lap.

He didn't mind at all.

Beth's eyes opened sometime late at night, she could hear snoring, more than a little and glanced around, wondering for a moment why everyone was sleeping on the floor then just shrugged it off and sat up.

She discovered her pillow was the tiny sleeping Steve Rogers and had to smile before standing up carefully.

Her muscles ached and yelled at her about being so overworked but they were easy to ignore as she walked to a hall closet and pulled out some blankets.

Returning to the living room she spread the blankets over the pile of Clint and Natasha, the slightly curled up Bruce in the love seat who muttered slightly but just curled tighter with the blanket, then over her brother who let off an amusingly loud snore.

When she turned back to Steve she found he'd curled up on the couch shivering just a little from her lack of body heat, she would never understand how he got cold when he put off enough heat to rival a furnace.

Shaking her head slightly she bent and gently lifted his smaller body into her arms, he muttered something and for a moment she thought he'd woken up but he just turned hand curling into her shirt, seeking out her warmth as she carried him back to their room.

"He's kinda cute isn't he jarv?" she asked quietly then glanced up "never tell him I said that" a moment of silence as she nudged the door open with her foot "of course ma'am" she glanced up as she nudged her door closed behind her "which question was that an answer to?"

"Both ma'am"

She chuckled under her breath and walked to her bed softly setting Steve down on its surface.

He didn't want to let go of her shirt but she managed to uncurl his fingers and tuck him in before walking toured the bathroom to wash the battle sweat off her body then returned to bed and settled in behind him, careful always careful of his smaller more delicate form.

Not that she'd ever let him know that, he might have been small but he was still a wiry little ass and knew how to use his slight frame to hurt.

He said it was too many fights when he was younger, she was inclined to agree.


	6. Chapter 6

The stark manor was on the sunnier greener side of California, it was fenced in far enough from the road there was of paparazzi and had a nice view of the ocean, a path lead down to a strip of private beach.

It was large with plenty of huge windows to let the light in, had a large kitchen and a library with more large windows and a window seat that took up a corner of the room filled with pillows and cushions.

She knew because shed put them there, it had been her nest whenever they would go on vacation and she could barely go outside for fear of getting deathly ill.

It had several bedrooms along with two master bedrooms one was her brothers the other hers, with a bed large enough to fit five and more large windows covered in thick blue drapes.

Her room also had a special air filtration system and hypoallergenic everything because she had been allergic to everything.

Though rarely used the manor had a full staff on call and a cleaning crew that came in once every three days.

She had called them in early and paid extra just to make sure the place was clean.

Steve's eyes went wide when she pulled up to the manor in a unassuming black suv with tented windows, she had to say she agreed the house was beautiful, the roses her mother herself had planted along the edge of the house in full bloom, that had become larger since the last time Beth was there.

Blooming out in an array of colors, yellows reds pinks whites and a few oranges they were beautiful, some of her mother's favorite blue roses climbing up the supports on the front of the home.

When they got out of the car Steve inhaled slowly and smiled "it's beautiful" she looked at him as she came around "my mother loved roses, she planted these herself, they've gotten bigger since last time I was here" he looked at her brows risen from under the ball cap he wore as a precaution.

"My mom liked roses to, I use to steal them from the neighbors garden all the time" she grinned at the man "well look at that, captain America use to pilfer roses? I knew there was a wicked side to you" he swatted her arm as he smirked.

Beth had always loved the kitchen with its stainless steel appliances industrial sized fridge and ample cooking space, but Steve fell in love with the library the moment he saw it.

She would like to say she was surprised but she wasn't, there was enough books in there to last anyone let alone a ample reader like Steve at least a year, a lot of the books were first additions a few of them Steve remembered from when he was a kid.

It made since she always though her father had bought out a library to fill the room.

"How long has it been since you were here?" Steve asked over lunch she made a humming noise around her food "about four, no five years I think" she took another bite of her Panini then swallowed and set it down whipping her mouth.

"After tony built that one of his I didn't see much point in staying 15 miles away just for more leg room" Steve propped his chin on one of his hands "is it true what happened to that place?"

She glanced up "you mean did he really challenge a terrorist that already had a hard on for him, to come after him and spout off the address to the place we both lived?" she copied his position "from what pepper has told me yes that really happened"

Running her fingers through her hair she raked it back "of course I was being run around between new genie and England fixing shields toys so I couldn't tell him maybe it was a bad idea to give a terrorist your home address"

Glancing up she saw Steve trying not to laugh "go ahead laugh, lord knows I did at first before I relised out house was really in the ocean"

So he laughed and she smiled because she always liked his laugh, it seemed to take years off his face when he did.

He always looked to mature to be a 25 year old.

The first day they were there all they did was sleep and eats and unwinds from too much stress.

She found he liked to sleep on top of her and when she asked he blushed and said it was comfortable, she didn't think that was the whole reason but she didn't want to make him have a stress induced asthma attack, or well, embarrassment induced.

The second day early in the morning she went for a run on the beach the sandy ground making it twice as much of a work out as it usually was and she found it was actually really beautiful on the beach.

It didn't take that much convincing to get Steve to join her for a walk along the shore even if he still kept that ball cap pulled down over his hair, the sand felt warm under their feet slightly damp from the waves that randomly slipped up over the sand where they walked.

He didn't seem to mind when she reached out to lace their fingers together.

Eventually he settled down in the sand with his sketch pad and she kicked off her shorts, he blushed when she also pulled off her shirt to reveal the top to the swimsuit she was wearing.

It was probably because the bottoms hugged her form and her breasts strained against the top, she was sure it got darker when she turned toured the water and the bottoms were revealed to slip between the cheeks of her ass.

She never really thought there was anything special about her body, she wasn't as vain as some of the women she had met at different benefits and charity dinners she was forced to go to, her breasts weren't large but they were decent sized, her waist wasn't super thin and she had too much muscle to have a girly figure, her hips weren't small either, she actually had birthing hips which her brother took a lot of pleasure in teasing her about.

All in all she didn't fit the picture of most women in her position, right and one half of one of the largest former weapons companies in the world but she didn't have the figure of a soldier the way Steve did after the serum.

Yet when Steve looked at her blush darkening his face like sunburn he thought he'd never seen anyone as beautiful as her, the way the light caught in her light brown hair making it look like honey and the way her eyes glinted like emeralds.

He wondered how many people actually knew her eyes weren't completely green, that they had bronze flecks and a ring of coffee brown around her pupil.

She walked toured the water then slowly into it until it came up to her hips just standing there for a moments surrounded by the cool yet warm water with the sun beating down hot on her face.

Watching her Steve had sudden inspiration and opened his pad of paper he glanced up once more saw her bounce with a bit larger wave then dive in and disappear before he started to sketch.


	7. Chapter 7

Taking a deep breath after the last swell she dove straight into the next arms pointed strait she used the back pull to carry her faster through the water, at first the saltiness of it stung her eyes but she adjusted quickly.

She didn't know how but she could hold her breath for a frighteningly long time possibly because of the serum not that she cared all it meant to her was not she could go deep water diving something she had found a great love for.

She watched as the ocean life barely paid her any mind as she moved as if one of them, she reached the ocean floor a bit away from the beach and fund something glinting at her she reached out and picked it up, it was a shell completely white but when she turned it over the underside shined like a rainbow.

She returned it to its place and felt tightness in her chest so she let out few bubbles making the feeling abate but she knew it was time to go back up.

Turning she swam leisurely to the surface breaking it with a splash and took a deep breath exhaling causing her to sink down a little, she turned and swam back toured the beach, walking when she was close enough her feet could touch the bottom.

She gathered her hair and wrung it out as she walked seeing Steve sitting there absorbed in whatever he was working on, she sat down knowing she would need a shower anyway and relaxed in the sand to absorb some sun.

When he finally noticed her he stared, she knew he did because she could feel it but she didn't care just stayed stretched out so he could look to his heart's desire, being the ass her brother always said she was, not that it was her fault she looked so good.

She smirked when she thought that because it really wasn't her fault it was shields.

Finally she opened her eyes and looked at him his face the same color as a really bad sun burn, and sat up "what ya working on?" she bent over but he jumped slightly and bent away "nothing, uh I mean, it's not finished yet" she smiled at his flushed nature chuckling a little.

"Calm down before you give yourself an asthma attack wing head" he punched her arm making her laugh harder "jerk" she grinned at her boyfriend "y know you love me"

She pushed herself up and dusted most of the sand out of the places it should never be then graved her clothing and offered Steve her hand he glanced at it then rolled his eyes but accepted it "thanks" he said sarcastically as she easily pulled him to his feet.

He kept his pad tucked under his arm as they walked back toured the house, shaking off as much of any lose sand as she could she walked toured the bedroom "I'm jumping in the shower" she told Steve who had settled on a couch in the living room pad open again.

Glancing up Steve gave a half nod to signal he herd what she said so she walked to the bedroom barely closing the door and stripping off the swim suit, throwing it into a hamper she stepped into the bathroom leaving the door open.

The bathroom was large, with both a Jacuzzi like bath tub and a large glass shower, while a bath sounded nice she didn't want to sit in any sand that came off her body so stepped toured the shower turning it on to start heating up.

The industrial sized water heater in the basement making sure there was an ample supply of hot water.

When the hot water first hit her body she shivered then sighed making a face when she moved a foot and felt the sand on the shower floor.

The floor was tilted just marginally so there wouldn't be any standing water so she knew it would just be a couple of minutes before the sand was gone, sure enough five minutes later it was all gone from the floor and her body so she went about cleaning herself.

After she finished she stood there head tilted back with the spray hitting her throat before she sighed and turned off the shower drying off quickly and rubbing a towel over her head messing up her hair.

She walked to the sink still completely nude towel laying over the hamper she ruffled her hair before picking up a neon blue comb to start untangling it having no problem standing there completely naked.

After a second she herd the door to the bedroom open and felt her mouth twitch slightly "Beth?" Steve called "in the bathroom" she called somehow hoping he'd walk in since the door was open "I was wondering what you wanted for dinner it's starting to get late and-"

The way he suddenly trailed off made her look in the mirror, her hopes had not been in vain because he stood in the door way staring at her.

She put down the comb and ruffled her hair so it didn't cling damply to her head before turning round "I was thinking about ordering in" she leaned leisurely against the sink and saw the way his face reddened.

A grin stretched her lips slightly "what's wrong Stevie? Looks like you've seen a ghost" she saw him swallow thickly face coloring slowly.

"What?" if he could repeat even a single word of what she just said she'd be amazed.

She walked toured him pushing off the sink walking with a predatory grace, one could say it looked like she was stalking him which in a way she kind of was.

Once in front of him she reached out and with a finger under his chin tilted his head up to look her in the eye, she could already see his pupils dilated, she bent down to kiss him slow and dirty, then pulled away smirking.

"But then again there's something else I'd like to eat first" his face went cherry red and he took a sharp breath starring right at her.

He started stuttering until she kissed him again silencing him.

When she nudged him to get him to start walking her stumbled but caught himself walking backwards as she tried to crowed him, herding him back toured the bed "a-are you sure?" he stuttered and she smiled at him, the wicked curve of her lips enough to make him blush even darker which she didn't think possible.

"Never been so sure about anything in my life" she told him calmly.

When he reached the bed he sat down heavily "yeah but. I mean I'm not much to look at, not like I was and I haven't really" before he could continue she put her hands on his knees and crowded him.

"Steven."

The seriousness in her voice made him stop talking and look right at her and she smiled at him "as an artist have you ever heard the expression beauty is in the eye of the beholder?" he nodded slowly "and do you know what it means?" he blinked at her wondering how art related to the current conversation.

"Everyone sees art different, what's beautiful to one man could be ugly to another" she nodded humming approvingly "that is like this" she motioned between them with a hand "you don't see yourself as much right now because you never have, you never had anyone call you beautiful before the serum and somehow you started to believe you weren't"

She brushed at his hair finger tips trailing over his face in a gentle caress "I've seen you as both, before and after, I've seen you drowning in grief, I've seen you burning with rage, I've seen you pushed beyond the boundaries of normal men and walking through hell, yet it didn't touch you" she held his face between her hands and kissed his forehead.

"You are a beautiful man Steven Rogers and that beauty is more than skin deep. I don't care what you look like; you're just as appealing and sexy to me now as you were when I first met you on the helliecarrier all that time ago. Nothing will change that and in sixty years when were both old and grey I'll still love you the same"

She felt something wet on her skin and shifted away enough to see the shining trail the tears that escaped his eyes had left on his pale cheeks, she leaned in to kiss them away and felt him wrap his arms around her.

"Can I keep you forever?" while the question surprised her she had to smile draping her arms over his shoulders "if you think you can put up with me for that long" he smiled then shrugged "you've grown on me" he said and she grinned against the shoulder of his shirt "like a fungus"


	8. update for chap 8 still in progress

you may notice how theres supposed to be explicit sexual content here unfortunately i havent added that yet even though i have the rest of the story finished, im working on this chapter now but it might be a while before its posted because im fast at a lot of things but a good sex sequence is not something to be rushed and i also suck at them.

i apologize if this upsets anyone and hope the story line makes up for it, please let me know what you think of the story in the reviews below.

thank you and sorry again.

RD


	9. Chapter 9

When she woke up her body was sore in all the right places, certain places complaining about not having been used it so long.

At first she didn't open her eyes but something was shining in her face making it impossible to go back to sleep so she peeled one eye open to glare at the drapes that had been closed just a few hours ago.

Something else caught her eye, Steve was sitting beside her much like he had just a few days ago in the tower, legs folded and sketch pad open on his lap.

But this time all he wore was a large pale sweater stretched out beyond belief, it looked like the one she had stolen from him a while ago, but she didn't care, her face went soft when she looked at him watched his artists hands as they moved over the paper.

A black smudge had made its home on his cheek somehow he always wound up doing that, and it was cute and funny each time.

"Baby what are you doing up?" she muttered as she stretched making him look up as she groaned and smile slightly "its two in the afternoon" she rose a brow at him then turned over blankets wrapping around her "and? That's why it's a vacation, do what you want, eat what you want and sleep as long as you want"

She loved the way his face heated up as his lips twisted into a smirk and she smiled as she sat up and laid on her stomach above the blankets "Steven G Rogers I do believe your face gave you away" he glanced at her with a smile it looked slightly evil, what had she done?

"Can't help it" he shrugged and she smiled pushing herself up on her arms she pulled away the sketch pad barely glancing at the half lined out figure that had to have been her, and flipped it closed before tossing it toured the nightstand.

By the sound it landed perfectly and he didn't fight as she reached to pull the sweater off of him.

They had worked on that last night, and she was glad for it because she loved the way he looked, he might have been small but he had muscle, kind of like a gymnast.

Either way she loved it, shifting forward she buried her face in his chest tipping him back against the mattress as she nuzzled and kissed the pale skin to her hearts content, both feeling and listening to the beating of his heart.

It wasn't the steadiest, heart erythema did that to people but it was still strong.

He was still so strong.

"Have I ever told you how much I envied your strength?" he shivered because she didn't pull away from his skin when she said that "what strength?" he muttered she could feel his confusion, the way he thought he wasn't strong like this he had no idea how wrong he was.

She kissed his collar bone "what do you mean what strength? The strength it took to face any problem head on, the strength and courage it took to fight guys twice your size and weight"

Something shoved her and she rolled to her back with him laying on top of her "that wasn't so much strength or courage, it was more being a dumb kid that didn't know when to keep his mouth shut or his head down" she snorted unladylike and pressed her face against his neck.

"say whatever you want, I know the truth" she lipped at the skin of his throat and he made a soft sound then went straight south of the border, making her slide her hands up his arms to his shoulders just barely digging her fingers in ever mindful of how strong she was and how easy it would be to hurt him.

He went pliant as she lightly sunk her teeth into the skin above his collarbone and she took the opportunity to flip him onto his back straddling his waist before moving to kiss him, slow and dirty making his hips twitch up against her.

She drew back so he could breath, she sat back on her knees careful of how much weight she put on him but he still hissed slightly s she pressed down where he really wanted her.

She chuckled softly she pressed her fingers against his middle brushing them up until they could slide into his hair her body stretching out above his own "Steve?" his eyes slightly glazed over and foggy opened and looked into her own.

Only when he looked at her did she finally sink down accepting him into her body, watching as his eyes dilated and fogged over the rest of the way.

As they sank together she finally identified the feeling it gave her, that warmth in her chest that made her entire body feel light as if she didn't weigh an ounce.

It felt like the finale piece settled into a grand puzzle a piece that had been missing, it felt like finally, finally she had come home.

She couldn't hold it in as they moved together like they'd been doing this their whole life, she pressed a kiss into his throat ran her teeth over his jaw then finally bit his ear lightly "I love you" he shivered at the words breathed against his ear hands clenching on her hips

"Love you to"

They were in the kitchen when the phone rang; Beth scowled at it as she picked it up from the counter "what?" Steve asked face propped on his hand "my brothers the only one that knows we were going here, and he's the only one with this number I turned my other phone off"

Hitting the button the answer she rubbed her eyes "someone better be dying" her face fell and Steve got concerned standing from his seat to stare at her "give us 10 minutes" she hung up

"Is something wrong?" she looked right at him "there's been an attack, we need to go" he nodded once and went to get dressed.


	10. Chapter 10

Returning to the kitchen he arrived just in time to see the visor slide into place on her armor the tenting disappeared when she looked at him "uh why are you geared up?" he questioned.

She glanced around as she stepped up to him "because tony just told me, their on their way here. Rodney Sam and thor intercepted them now their coming so we have an escort just in case" he raised a brow "way to give a guy an inferiority complex" she snorted.

"How do you think I feel? I mean come on its not like I'm trained for this sort of thing"

He rose a brow at her "I'm the one that's going to be carted around like a damsel in distress, at least you can fight" she sighed deflating slightly and pulled him close.

"Your our leader, even tony knows it no matter how much he denies it, we'd be lost if anything happened to you, that's why were so protective of you" he sighed relaxing in her hold "I know I still hate it"

She smiled and bent to kiss him "we might not be soldiers but wed still die for you like any soldier would" he snorted "you'd lay down on a wire for an extra slice of pizza" she grinned "which means you should feel really special if I hold you on the same level as food, I mean come on I think more of a cheese burger than I do my brother half the time"

That got him laughing.

Walking outside Steve readjusted the straps on the backpack he was carrying in one hand as she readjusted the straps on her shield for the hundredth time "you never told me that was made for you"

She looked at Steve then shrugged "I was never that good with it and I figured you would need it more, I mean come on which one of use wears a suit of armor, and which one wears-" he shoved a finger in her face "don't you say it" he warned she grinned "form fitting cloth" he rolled his eyes and sighed "you're an idiot"

She rose a brow at the man and put her hands on her hips "don't make me regret what I'm about to do and make you ride on my back instead" his brows rose "I thought I was" she smirked widely "you remember the time I spent locked in the lab in the tower?" he nodded slowly

"Well..." she drew out and he noticed something beside her "don't clench up" was all the warning she gave before the thing beside her hissed and then started moving.

He had about .5 seconds to wonder 'what the heck' before the first thing hit him, well not really hit so much as graved something covered his body crept up the back of his neck then his eyes were covered in some kind of tented glass.

When things stopped moving he tried to move and heard a very soft hissing and looked down "the hell" he trailed off and looked at her she was smirking shield resting against her leg so she could cross her arms she looked pleased with herself.

"Is this" before he could finish she was nodding "yep" she popped the 'P' annoyingly and picked the shield back up sliding it on like shed been doing it for years.

"I was going to surprise you with it tonight but eh" she shrugged "it's another set of armor" he said still trying to wrap his head around it she nodded again "it started as an idea, I mean with you fighting in tights and everything"

He glared at her but she continued before he could say anything "and I started thinking 'what if' which is really bad for me, so I designed this but it went on the back burner because tony wrecked another one of his suits"

He tilted his head a little "and then I get changed back to a shrimp" she gave him a look "you're not a shrimp, but you are more delicate now so I figured why not have a backup plan and I made this" she motioned to the suit around his body.

"I designed it mainly for escape and evade. But as you can see" she tapped the chest plate "I also installed an arc reactor for defensive measures" he looked down and made a face at the glowing white star "I know I'm all about the irony" she said at the look.

He sighed shaking his head "what can it do?" she shifted a little "well the arc reactor powers the flight capabilities and the servo motors that allow you to actually move without being able to lift five pounds of metal per square inch, flight stabilizers, I can give you the hand book when we get to the tower but sometimes you just gotta run before you can walk"

Steve rolled his eyes "where have I heard that before?" she grinned just before her visor tented and the mask covered her face "come on Stevie you're a fast learner" something fired off and she lifted a few inches off the ground "just don't clench up" she snagged the back pack from beside him and bolted into the air.

He shifted his shoulders testing his range of movement then looked up "here goes nothing" whenever he shot straight up into the air he will admit he yelped but it was easier to manipulate the repulsers than he thought.

She appeared whenever he stopped going up and hovered standing there arms crossed, the shield strapped to her back "that wasn't so bad" he just knew she was grinning "that was just gaining altitude" her voice said in his ear.

It took a good 20 minutes for him to get use to the flight capabilities and it wasn't really steady but once he got the hang of it he looked around in wonder "hell of a view isn't it?" she asked from wear she flew just above him never more than an arms distance away and he nodded "I still like having both feet on the ground"

She rolled her eyes "landlubber" she muttered then suddenly grunted in pain when something crashed into her seeing the black armor she cursed as Steve yelled at her, she was falling out of the sky.

Reaching back she graved the shield the same time she tilted her leg and activated one repulsers whirling around and throwing the hydra armored soldier off of her she pulled off the shield and bashed him in the face with it before shooting back up to where Steve was surrounded.

Until several guys smashed into her bringing her back down.

Steve looked around at the weapons charging and gulped "oh no" he said and curled in on himself when they fired he herd her yell at him she couldn't help him and he knew it was game over but it never came, all he herd was grunts of pain and he looked around, and then smiled "defensive capabilities right" he muttered seeing the shield he flexed his shoulders and it retracted he smirked.

"Time to see what this thing can do" he muttered and bolted forward swinging his leg around, with the servo motors in the suit and the weight of the metal it cracked one solders helmet open and his head along with it.

She saw the shield activate as she struggled, saw two suits fall because their shots were repelled right back at them and she grinned especially when he started fighting.

She looked at her captors and punched one in the face ripped open the others armor chest removing his power and they both fell leaving her arms free "Steve!" she called graving the shield and flung it.

Steve turned saw the shield and instinct took over, he reached out graved it sliding it on his arm then swung watching amazed as sparks flew from an armored chest and he grinned "I'm back" he thought and continued to fight.

Seeing him take the shield no problem she pulled out her sword the edge beginning to glow and swung like a hot knife through butter.

After about 15 minutes there was a sudden bolt of lightning and the sound of a mini gun, Steve and Beth looked as the last of the hydra goons were taken down, returning so she flew next to Steve she returned her sword to her side and crossed her arms "guess you didn't need an escort after all" Sam said from where he hovered not far away.

She snorted "yeah, hell of a protection detail guys really, you make the grade" she clapped at them and Steve elbowed her in the side "be nice" he told her "who's that?" Rodney asked from where he flew and she rolled her eyes "Steve Rodney, war machine, the real iron patriot"

Steve swatted at her again and she made a face "what? it's true no one's more patriotic that star spangled-" this time he punched her in the arm and she laughed "tony told me about the whole shrinking thing" Rodney said hovering in front of Steve and held out a hand "glad to see you didn't let it stop you sir" Steve shook the offered hand.

"tell me about the attack" he said "they went after a shield base a few hours ago, didn't get inside and none of ours were killed, but they managed to snag one of hydras goons, few minutes in interrogation and he starting singing like a canary" Sam explained.

"And that's how you knew they were coming after us, how did they even know where we were, unlike my brother I don't spout off my address and challenge a terrorist organization to a pissing contest" she crossed her arms "language" Steve muttered and she made a face at him.

"That we don't know, they probably pulled up the records on stark holdings and checked all of them until they found you" she shrugged "at least this time a house didn't end up in the ocean" thor shifted his head to the side "why would a home go into the water?" he asked and she chuckled "it's a long story big guy"

They flew back toured home with Rodney leading the way, Beth stayed just above Steve and to the right barely a arms distance away just in case, but thor was beside her and Sam was on the other side of Steve, it took her five minutes to figure out what they were doing and why Steve had gone quiet.

"guys we don't need to be protected, were not injured and we can fight just fine, fall into defense" she ordered Steve seemed surprised when they listened to her Rodney pulling away like he was flying a jet, something they could never break him of, and settled in on thor's left side Sam edged away a little on the right and she shifted so she was a little more than a arms distance from Steve and a little ahead so they flew in a basic v pattern.

Steve glanced around "since when do they listen to you?" he had to ask "she had the shield and she's mean when we don't" Sam spoke up Steve rose a brow at the woman and she had to feel it because she shrugged.

"If you weren't idiots without someone telling you what to do I wouldn't have to be, no offence big guy" she looked toured thor "none taken" he grinned at her "no offence to him?! What about the rest of us?" Sam asked "I wouldn't have said it if I didn't mean to offend a few of you, I mean come on which one of us flew though a building into a trap?"

Sam made a disgruntled sound "you said you'd never bring that up again" she grinned over at him "I lied get used to it" he sighed and silence fell as they flew toured home, content this time instead of upset.


	11. Chapter 11

Steve had to work on his landing that's the first thing she thought when they returned but with the smile on his face she also thought, maybe they could work on it later.

Tony took one look at the suit retracting from Steve's body and smirked at her "looked a little unsteady on the landing there cap" Steve looked up clothing rumpled and smirked a little "we've been flying for how long? My legs went numb"

She and tony exchanged a look "yeah, that's something you never get use to" she held out the bag shed been carrying and Steve took it slinging it over his shoulder.

"So we were briefed on the way here, how bad was the attack?" she asked taking the shield Steve had been carrying and attacked it to her back.

Tony looked up at her "only one major injury, a lot of people were hurt, no shield agents died, it looked like hydra was more looking for information than anything else" she tilted her head in thought "what all did they get?" Steve asked "not much, they stopped digging once they found out where the stark manor was"

Beth gave a snort "and what was shield doing with that information? I shuffled it around a dozen different shell corporations. All of them without any ties to us or our company, and I made sure tony didn't touch anything while I was doing this"

She was looking at Natasha that had wandered out to greet them and saw the Russians lips twitch up into a smirk as her brother scowled at her "someone on the staff is a shield agent" she guessed.

Natasha's lips twitched further "are you really surprised?" Beth tried to look indignant but then she deflated suit making a soft metal shifting sound as she slumped "I should have expected it"

Just about that time there was an explosion from inside the building and they all jumped "that came from the lab" Beth said helmet returning to her head as she bolted jumping off the balcony and flying for the suits entrance.

Tony sighed "I really hope she doesn't do anything stupid" Steve's head tilted to the side in confusion but tony just motioned him to follow while they went to the lab.

Flying into the lab through the tunnel she found a single person in the room filled with smoke and lunged graving them by the shirt "wait wait wait!" someone said, she looked to the left her fist still drawn back and saw Bruce coughing.

She looked forward again and squinted closely, the person in her hands was a woman with long blond hair "what the fuck?" she asked recognizing the shield agent number 13 aka Sharon.

Putting her down she looked up "Jarvis open the ventilation, get this smoke out of here" "yes ma'am" the AI said then she heard a slight whooshing sound fans kicking on and within a minute the smoke had dissipated.

Looking over when she saw the unnamed machine had wired attached to it and a scorch mark in its open panel the antenna array slightly charred clearly the center of the explosion and not the first time by the looks of it.

"Would have been helpful to know about that trick" Sharon said looking up, the machine started whirring again softly and Sharon and Bruce had similar looks "it's doing it again" she said scrambling.

Beth just marched to the machine and drew back her foot "don't it'll-" her words fell on death ears because Beth let fly a kick making the entire machine jump and slide about an inch, since it weighed at least a ton it was impressive.

It stopped whirring.

Turning back she found Sharon and Bruce staring at her dumbly "it takes finesse to make the bitch listen, now what is going on?" Sharon looked ruffled at the way Beth spoke but Bruce just sighed and started cleaning his glasses.

Or he was about to but noticed his shirt was less than clean.

Beth tossed him a clean shop rag from the table she kept around just for that reason "me and tony couldn't make heads or tails of this machine so we called in some help, shield sent their best engineer they could spare"

Glancing around Beth could barely hold in her snort as the elevator dinged and out walked tony Natasha and Steve, it took Beth a minute to wonder why Natasha was there but then she decided she didn't really care.

"Did it blow up again?" tony asked Bruce nodded as Beth's brows shot up into her hair which was rumpled now that she had retracted her helmet again "again?" Sharon and Bruce both had the decency to blush "it was about to send out another light show to but Beth stopped it"

Tony looked at her with interest "I kicked it, really hard" Beth walked over to her work station and let her suit dismantle itself then attach to a mannequin she kept down for just that purpose.

"Where did you get that?" Sharon asked pointing as the shield Beth still had in one hand she rose a brow at the woman "I own it. Came with the suit and and good looks" Steve sighed "Beth" he warned.

She pouted at him but his voice drew Sharon's attention and she gasped softly "they did say it was that bad" she said staring at him.

Beth curled a lip as she saw Steve fidget and rub his arms, waling over she stepped behind the man and dropped her arms over him like she normally stood when he came to visit in the lab.

To say Sharon gapped at them was a understatement, Beth's lips twitched into a slight smirk as Steve looked up at her then rolled his eyes and jabbed a boney elbow into her left kidney but he didn't pull away so she didn't move away even though she hissed like it hurt and pouted at him again.

"Meanie" she said he rolled his eyes again and shook his head, all she cared about was he wasn't fidgeting anymore.

And Sharon was still staring like shed been caught in a headlight.

Not moving she looked over at Bruce "how's it been going with the bitch"

"Language" Steve said and she rested her chin on the top of his head in retaliation "I'm not a leaning post" he told her but she felt him standing completely relaxed she she just rubbed her cheek against his hair "but your soft and warm"

Bruce rolled his eyes at them and cleaned his glasses some more "it's been going explosive, we haven't been able to run a full diagnostic on the machine, every time we get only part way though some type of fire wall or virus crashes our computers and causes a minor explosion"

She rose a brow at Bruce "that sounded like more he a minor explosion" he shrugged "big bang in a small package" shaking her head slightly she sighed slumping but made sure not to put too much of her weight on Steve "so we still don't know what it does other than shrink hungry superheroes into pipsqueaks"

"Hey!" she looked down with a placating smile "I say it with love" he made a face at her and slumped rebalisly into her arms hands shoved in his pants "I believe I may be able to answer what the machine dose ma'am" she looked up at the ceiling like she could see the AI and grinned.

"JARVIS you dog, why didn't you say you cracked the data earlier "you were distracted ma'am" rolling her eyes she lifted on hand and rolled her wrist "don't keep us waiting"

"judging from the data that was uncorrupted and the changes caused in captain rogers body from being hit with the energy created by it, I believe in a way you are right but the machine would only affect him or you" she tilted her head to the side biting into her lip.

"How so"

"By reverse engineering the serum that has attached and thus enhanced your genetic code"

She tilted her head "so it's basically a aint serum gun" Steve piped up "that is correct sir" she smirked "and I thought you didn't understand smart talk" she got a bony elbow to her other kidney this time "with you or your brother I don't"

She laughed "but hang on" Natasha said from where she leaned on a counter "how would they know what to reverse if they didn't have a sample of Steve's blood or work up of his genetic code"

"I was not finished"

Everyone looked up "the machine is dialed in so that it will only work on miss stark or captain Rogers but not primarily because of the serum, it is because even in a crowed it would only hit you"

Now she was confused "uh... Why?" Sharon finally got with the program "it is targeted to your DNA" she and Steve both made sounds of shock "what" she released Steve and took a step away "how would that happen? We don't share any DNA" she looked at tony then met Steve's eye did they? No then it would try to hit tony as well.

"The serum you were given was derived from Captain Rogers blood ma'am. That along with the minor transfusions you have needed in the past for injuries you sustained has allowed a small amount of captain Rogers DNA to remain in your body"

She blinked slowly "so if I get hit by that thing I'll have to be checked back into my room at the hospital" Steve rose a brow "what?" she turned her head "I was in the hospital weekly when I was younger for blood testing and a checkup, had to stay so many times I knew everyone" tony snorted "should names a room after you"

"they did sir, sun brook hospital installed Lizzy grace daycare three years ago" Steve looked up "grace?" he asked quietly "middle name" she looked up "I since a 'and' in that sentence jarv" there was a moment of silence and she thought he wouldn't answer, Jarvis had a bad habit of keeping some things to himself that he didn't deem appropriate for her to know about.

"There is ma'am. Should captain rogers not have arrived to be hit by the machine, you would not be with us" her eyes shot up "what?" she asked "the deterioration of cells occurs so rapidly without outward physical evidence other than loss of appetite it would cause irreversible heart erythema thus sending you into cardiac arrest in your sleep because of sleeping condition"

She blinked slowly then sighed and slid a hand through her hair pushing it back "that would be a problem wouldn't it?"

"Yes ma'am" JARVIS' voice dripped with sarcasm she shook her head then looked over Sharon and Bruce were bent over a table furiously working on something "what sleeping condition" she looked back at Steve and scratched her head "Well"

Tony spoke up for her walking passed "she randomly stops breathing" she glared at the man "thank you for that" she said then looked back at Steve "don't give yourself an asthma attack, it was only when I was stressed, hasn't happened since new York" he looked more surprised "you mean the serum didn't fix it?"

Beth chuckled to herself "that's not something a super serum can fix, sleep apnea is all up here" she tapped her forehead "and Jarvis monitors my breathing at night wakes me up if I stop, not that it matters much now since I can hold my breath for a long ass time"

"Language" she rolled her eyes and nudged him "I'm fine, and like I said it only happens when I'm really stressed" he looked like he wanted to say more but a shout stopped him "what?" they turned and looked at Sharon who was dancing around.

"What did you do?" Steve asked confused and that made the woman rush over stopping just short of touching him "what I had to do and I know now" she did reach out now the hand she put on Steve's shoulder making Beth bristle "I know how to fix you!"

Beth saw the way Steve flinched at her words shoulders raising just an inch and he lowered his chin hands curling into fists his smile was forced "that great" Beth's lips curled at the sound of his voice and the strain in it and Sharon yelped when she graved her arm and removed it "fix? He's not broken agent there's nothing to 'fix' on him"

Sharon yanked her hand away and put her hands on her hips "excuse you but he's defenseless like this. I mean asthma, chronic colds, high blood pressure, heart erythema" Beth took a threatening step forward "he's not a broken doll, and I know his health issues" Sharon's eyes narrowed.

"He's a liability like this, we can't be worrying about him while were facing off against hydra or any other of numerous organizations that would and have killed to get information about his condition"

"Don't act like its contagious agent! And if memory serves he fought just fine when we were ambushed before backup arrived"

"We need captain America back not-"

Sharon had lifted a hand to motion toured Steve but she graved it "don't you dare finish that fucking sentence you bitch, captain America is Steven G Rogers, he is still captain America"

Sharon looked at where Beth held her arm and raised a brow "take your hands off me"

"or what?" she taunted lips thin the woman's eyes sparked like she had the upper hand in this "or I'll remove it for you, I've seen the way you and your brother fight the messes you make, you're not wearing your suit now"

Beth flexed and the tightened her fingers on her arm lips curled into a snarl as she leaned closer "the suit doesn't make the hero and you leave my brother out of this"

The women's eyes also narrowed "tell me something Beth, where were you while I was here doing your job? Did you run away so you didn't have to deal with it?" her eyes lit up like fire "just pay someone to do it for you that's the stark way isn't it"

The sound of her hand meeting flesh was loud in the still air everyone standing still and watching as she latched her hand into Sharon's shirt and pulled the stunned woman closer "you have no idea the challenged me and my brother had to face to get where we are, what we had to do, we worked for the respect we fought to earn and keep, we weren't the greatest people in the world but we were fucking honest. Do you wanna know where I was?" she asked lowly lips curling into a smirk leaning close enough only Sharon could hear.

"I was taking a break with my boyfriend after saving the city from an army of robots" she shifted away just a little bit "where were you during that battle anyway? I didn't see you putting your life in danger"  
The boot to the stomach was sudden enough to make her gasp and stumble backwards releasing Sharon who landed and flew at her with a shriek.

Beth let the woman get one blow in her nails raking Beth's cheek before she turned throwing her body into it and punched her in the face she flew back nose gushing blood but she had tilted her hand at the last second so she didn't send fragments into her skull.

"Elizabeth!" Steve's voice boomed as hands graved her she looked at her brother holding her left arm Bruce holding her right Sharon stood up rage in her eyes and took a step and suddenly Beth relised what Natasha was there for as she stepped fluidly in the way and let out her as Beth called it evil deadly assassin face show.

She looked over at Steve biting at the bit to go after the woman but holding back fighting her rage "walk it off" he said looking aggravated she frowned regretting having annoyed him then looked back at Sharon who was smirking at her over Natasha's shoulder.

With a growl she turned away "uh before you go could you turn it off again?" she looked at Bruce then at the machine she hadn't noticed it started up again, she marched over drew back and kicked it using it as an excuse to vent some of her anger.

The sound of her boot colliding with the machine was loud and made everyone jump the machine itself flew a yard away disconnecting from some of the wires and this time it stayed silent.

She turned back around and looked at tony "we have all the specs and data have Jarvis create a 3d rendering and then dismantle that fucking thing" she waited just long enough for him to nod in agreement before walking passed, with a glance she saw Sharon gapping at the show of strength but her eyes darted to Steve and she saw he was rubbing the space between his eyes like he had a headache.

Ducking her head she made a quick exit.


	12. Chapter 12

After a few hours Steve went looking for her, she wasn't in the main room, the game room she had set up in R&D.

That only left one place; with a sigh he hit the button for the gym level.

Beth and her brothers were different in a lot of ways but on the base level they were exactly the same, kind of, if tony got angry or stressed he would work it out over a bottle of something potent or go to his personal work space in the basement and work on his cars and blast music loud enough to make the glass in the walls shake.

Beth couldn't get drunk, so she went to the gym to work out her frustrations, or just work her body until she collapsed.

Whichever came first.

When the doors slid open Steve nearly took a step back and covered his ears the base alone was enough he could almost feel it in his chest, the singer screaming being punched and punching back twice as hard.

He stepped out clenching his jaw and activated the pad on the wall punched in his four digit code to access through the lock and touched the volume control turning it down to a more reasonable setting.

Aka one where his ears didn't bleed "ya know some of us can still go death" he said turning there was a clanking sound and he approached the weight bench as she sat up.

Beth looked at him with wide eyes and risen brows, she tilted her head slightly then sighed and seemed to deflate, with a glance he saw the bar shed been lifting was at least 400lbs, not as bad as he expected since the bars could go up to 800.

"I'm sorry" he looked at her saw she had bowed her head as if in shame "what for?" she looked up surprised by his question then sighed slumping so her arms rested over her knees "I kind of lost it in the lab, I just can't stand when people think just because your small you can't do anything"

She rose from her seat on the bench and walked to a shelf snatching up a towel to wipe at her face with "that's a big thing with you isn't it, how come, can't be just because of me" she smirked a little but it was bitter "never really saw any of the photos have you?"

With a slight tilt of the head he looked at her confused "what photos?" she smirked again and approached him "of me, ya know, before" he shook his head and she chuckled to herself.

"I was worse than you, I wasn't joking when I said they should name a room after me, I was born with a bad heart, only half of it worked properly, fluid in my lungs and I was premature, Jarvis?" she looked up "yes ma'am?" she glanced at Steve "project a 3d render of me before the serum please"

"At once" even as he spoke a light flickered blue in the middle of the floor from the sharp inhale she knew Steve saw it and she made herself look as well.

It was a time she tried to forget but it came rushing back as she looked at how she used to be.

The rendering was of when she was at her worst, at barely five feet tall her body was thin enough to clearly see every single rib, there was no muscle on her arms of legs it was all clearly visible since the image was dressed in only a sports bra and compression shorts.

"I had something called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and osteoarthritis, degenerative muscle and bone disease. Arthritis so bad in my right hand some days it was all I could do to move it, I had no immunity and asthma so bad I had a special air filter in my room so I wouldn't have an attack in my sleep"

Closing her eyes she looked away from the image of her face, her shallow cheeks and the dark circles under her eyes "people said I wouldn't make it to 25, I made it to 27 before I was contacted about the serum" Steve looked between her and the hologram then down at his own arms "so you had first hand experience"

She chuckled but there was no humor in it "yeah, there was so much I couldn't do, so much I was told not to do because of my body, so many things I saw other people doing but tried and failed to do myself. I couldn't stand it, not even tony knows but I was so depressed so angry at the world I started drinking to get through it all"

He saw her look down at her hands saw the very fine tremors running through them "there were so many times I thought about taking just one more drink, one more dose, I had enough medicine on a daily basis, it would have been so easy and It made me angry which made me drink more and I" her voice had become quiet he looked up nodded toured the hologram and made a slicing motion the image disappeared.

She was shivering just a little and he walked up to her standing at her back he lifted a hand and placed it against her spin "people use to say I was broken, when I went to school they always made fun of me for it because of how many days I had to take off sick. Even in collage"

"and when she said she knew how to 'fix' me you kind of lost it" she spun around to face him so suddenly he stumbled back half a step, she slid to her knees in front of him and reached out wrapping her arms around him and pulled him close.

He pushed at her hair as she pressed her cheek against his stomach "there's nothing wrong with you, yeah you lost your powers big fucking deal, that doesn't mean your broken, I remember the stories Peggy use to tell me, about the boy from Brooklyn that picked a fight with people twice his size and weight just because they were bully's"

He stroked her hair soothingly tugging at a few strands of it to distract her "I know, calm down, she didn't mean anything by it" he felt her take a few deep breaths, when she let the last one out she seemed to just kind of slump but it was almost like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

"was she alright?" she questioned finally and he glanced down "yeah, her nose wasn't broken but you got her pretty good, though I will admit she deserved that hit even if you were egging her on" she tilted her head to look up at him with a smirk "Well Steven G Rogers when did you get so low as to say a woman deserved to be punched"

He smirked right back at her "since I started dating you" he swatted at her lightly and she ducked releasing him to roll away and to her feet in one surprisingly graceful move.

Then she smiled at him, a real smile "I am very corrupting, then again maybe you've always been a little rebellious, I mean I'm not the one that showed you how to steal a car" he blushed even as he smiled back at her "that was Bucky" she shook her head slowly with a fond smirk "one of these days you'll have to tell me some of those stories" he smiled at her "maybe one day"

Silence took over for a few minutes before finally she shook herself "so I think it's about lunch time" Steve rolled his eyes "it's about shower time actually" she made a face at him "fine, shower first then food" he couldn't help laughing at her.


	13. Chapter 13

It was a tense couple of days for the next week.

Sharon stayed and worked on reversing the genetic damage the machine had done, Steve got sick again because of course they were starting to get into the heart of flu season.

Beth and Sharon were staying away from each other, weather on purpose or just because they didn't like each other Steve didn't know, he knew that Beth did apologize for punching her in the face; Sharon had barely nodded but said nothing even though the scratches were still bright on Beth's cheek.

When Steve asked she said she hadn't expected one.

Before he could go ask Sharon himself what the deal was he got sick, which put Beth into what could only be described as nanny mode, not that he minded it reminded him of when Bucky use to take care of him when he was younger.

Of course she got a lot cuddlier as well so maybe it was more mother Henning than nannying.

When she slid up behind him again after he ate he just glanced at her and gave her a strange look "you're gonna get sick" he said and she snorted before nuzzling the back of his neck "babe I don't get sick" he huffed even as his face heated up with more than just fever.

True to form she didn't get sick and he was on the mend a day later, just in time for Sharon to make a break through.

"So we should have our Steve back in about" tony looked at his watch "24 to 48 hours" Steve glanced at Beth to see her reaction to the way tony said that but she just stood arms crossed and smirking.

Maybe it was just Sharon she had a problem with.

She left in the middle of an examination after they injected some strange green serum into his arm and it was 20 minutes before he could go looking for her, this time he went straight for the gym.

He found her there doing pushups but she didn't have her music on so she wasn't upset about anything.

"Hey" he greeted she paused for half a second to glance at him but didn't stop he had noticed she didn't have a set workout routine, she just seemed to push herself until she couldn't move "hey" she huffed in return "what are you doing down here?"

He made a face at how she spoke between pushups "came looking for you, what are you doing down here?" he asked "got bored. Figured. Get a few. Rounds. In"

Beth huffed a breath when there was a sudden weight on her back and looked Steve was sitting on her "you mind?" he smiled at her "not at all, I prefer knowing what you're saying when we talk"

She rolled her eyes huffing slightly then crossed her arms to rest her head on them "I was saying I got bored just standing around so I figured I might as well get a few reps in" he shook his head crossing his legs on her back.

He looked down when she let out a long huff "I'm not too heavy am I?" she turned her head and he could see the grin in her lips then she moved and he graved her shoulder so he didn't fall off.

"I use to do this with my brother, before he discovered crispy creams go extremely well with coffee" she pushed herself up and then she stopped and glanced back again.

Steve shifted up further so he sat comfortably just below her shoulders, sitting mostly on her shoulder blades and kept one hand on her shoulder for balance then she lifted one of her arms and tucked it behind her back before she started again.

She didn't go as fast as she was when he walked in and he wondered if it was because of his weight or because she didn't want to jar him, he decided it was because of his weight when she swapped hands by shoving herself up with enough force she could stay up long enough to swap hands.

Though when she bright her arm up she swatted him on the ass by 'accident'

"so how you feeling?" she asked glancing back at him as she continued he looked down at her and saw the way she wasn't even out of breath, did he really weight that little to her? He shook his head to focus "I'm breathing easier so Bruce and Sharon might have got it right"

She snorted but kept when she wanted to say to herself "so now we just wait and in what 2 days you'll revert back to your after serum form? I got to say I'm gonna miss it, you're a cute little shit"

He rolled his eyes "language, what you'll miss it being the big spoon and no that's not really all"

The sudden stop of her movement made him look back at her she had her eyes narrowed and her brows furrowed "what else has to happen?" he glanced away and rubbed his neck "well..."

Suddenly she rolled over back hitting the floor and she had done some intricate move to keep him sitting on her, this time on her chest where he promptly slid to her stomach so she could sit up on her elbows and look at him.

"Steve" he looked at her, he knew that tone of voice "tell me" her eyes promised retaliation and punishment if he didn't so he sighed "I have to be hit by the machine again" he covered her mouth with a hand before she could start yelling.

"before you say it I know it's a bad idea but if I don't it won't reactivate the serum in my blood, the formula Sharon gave me reactivated it but the damage wont reverse without another hit" they stared at each other then she tapped his hand making him remove it from her mouth but she snagged it before it got too far.

She pulled his hand back and pressed his knuckles against her lips eyes closed she took a breath then let it out and looked back at him "ok" he looked surprised "okay?" he asked dumbly and she smiled holding his hand against her breast bone "okay, it's your choice and you know I'll support you, is my brother putting the machine back together?"

He glanced away and bit his cheek "Steve," she complained knowing he wasn't telling her something "when it was removed from the base the data was corrupted, some kind of fail safe from what tony found, I have to be hit by one still in their facility"

She stared at him "you didn't tell me that" she said dully and he sighed heavily "I know but the serum Sharon gave me reactivated what little of the original is still in my genes, I think they left a few of the really technical things out but basically, we have 48 hours to find a machine before its irreversible"

"then why don't we make another serum like shield did for me?" he sighed again "they said my genetic code is unstable and deteriorating, apparently what's left of the serum is all that's keeping it stable"

Her eyes had gone wide not that he noticed it "so if we don't get you to a hydra base in 48 hours, you're going to die" he nodded slowly "fast enough we won't be able to recreate the serum even if I got the file from shield" he nodded again "and currently were looking for a hydra base with another machine?"

With one more nod she went silent then she sat up the rest of the way and when he looked at her he expected her to look serious, or angry, or sad.

He didn't expect her to be smirking.

"I think I know just where to find one"


	14. Chapter 14

Bruce Sharon and tony looked up when Beth walked into the lab, for a second tony looked nervous because he knew the kind of temper his sister could have when she wasn't kept in the loop.  
Especially if it had anything to do with Steve.

But then he was confused because she walked over to her lab space and put on her suit "where are you going?" he asked she glanced back at him and then she grinned.

"I have some people I need to talk to; I might just know where to find a hydra base"

Sharon turned and tilted her head "we've had JARVIS searching for the past hour, wouldn't he know before you" Beth smiled at the woman "jarv might be smart but the guy I'm going to see is off the grid even to him"

The woman pushed back her hair "no one's off the grid" she smirked "Wanna bet?" tony shook his head "you really going to that guy?" she grinned "come on bro he's not that bad"

Her brother made a face "you just don't like him because he doesn't let you play with his toys" her brother pouted "just who are you going to see?" Sharon finally asked tilting her head and she smirked tilting forward and pressed a finger to her libs "every girls got to have a few secrets"

Turning away the visor of her helmet went dark "I'll be back by tomorrow morning at the latest" Bruce's word of be careful was lost to the sound of the repulsers on her boots firing "Jarvis?" she questioned as her visor lit up with faint blue lines "yes ma'am?"

"You know where were going" she smirked again "of course ma'am, plotting course now"

A thick blue line appeared on her visor and she tilted her body to follow it "what would I do without you buddy" silence reined for a minute and she didn't expect an answer then "crash and burn ma'am"

She laughed for ten minutes straight.

Within three hours she sat at a table drinking tea was a dark haired man that looked to be in his forties, his black hair only disturbed by a patch of white at his temple.

"Tell me miss stark what do you need me to do?" she looked up from her steaming mug to Stephen Vincent strange and smiled slightly "as if you don't already know" he smiled a little himself "oh I know, you only ever come to me when you need something found, but I like to be asked"

She set down her cup of tea and pulled a piece of paper out of her jeans, she had removed the suit upon entering the house, when asking a sorcerer for help, especially one like strange, it was best not to offend or otherwise piss them off.

That and it was more comfortable "I need to find a hydra base with this machine installed in it" he took the paper and looked at it she had done a rough sketch of the machine and jolted down a detailed description of what it did.

A very detailed description.

"of course shouldn't take more than a few days to find it" he set down the paper "you're going to have to do better" he looked up surprised at her, normally if she had to come to him to find something shed give him the basic look and function, or a sample, or just enough details for him to find it then he'd tell her how long and shed leave.

This time she wasn't because it was more important "what do you mean?" he didn't seem upset but he did seem intrigued "I have 48 hours to find this or someone I care about is going to die"

"Captain rogers?" he guessed she nodded slowly "I thought something might be different about this, so what's so wrong with the super soldier that he could die in 48 hours" she looked down and begged for forgiveness mentally before looking back at strange "we raided a hydra base and took a machine from their lab, that machine"

She pointed at the paper "I was trying to figure out what it did when it fired some kind of energy blast, captain Rogers took the hit for me and it affected his genetic code, attacked the serum and reverted him to his old body"

She looked at the cup in her hands "the machines programing was corrupted and we destroyed it before we knew, a friend gave him a formula that reactivated the serum in his genes, in 48 hours the change will be irreversible and his condition will rapidly get worst as his genetic code continues to deteriorate"

He tilted his head to the side then pushed back his hair when it fell into his face "and you don't want that to happen, because you owe him" she huffed and took a drink of her tea "you know me better than that strange" he leaned forward chin on his hand "then do tell, why put yourself at risk coming to me with all the enemy's I have both in this world and the next"

"because I love him" and that was the truth, she said it with unflinching, no pause, no hesitation, he seemed surprised by her honesty and how fast she answered him then he started laughing and she looked at him confused "a stark finds their true love in a man out of time, priceless"

She tilted her own head in confusion "what do you mean?" he shook his head "just a thought" her lips twisted "ummmhmmmmm" he smiled disarmingly at her then picked up the paper "I'll start on this now"

She nodded "thank you Stephen I owe you" he shook his head as he walked up the stairs "don't worry about it this ones on the house, and don't thank me yet, I haven't found it!" he stopped at the top of the stairs and grinned down at her "yet"

She chuckled as he disappeared then settled in for a possibly long wait.


	15. Chapter 15

Beth had been gone for 36 hours and Steve didn't feel great.

His breathing eased by the serum Sharon gave him was starting to get difficult again, he tried not to let it get to him but he couldn't help glancing at the clock randomly, they had 12 hours before it was irreversible.

Maybe a month before he was in the ground for good, he could feel everyone watching him and it made him twitchy.

Enough so when Tony's phone rang he nearly gave himself an asthma attack.

"Beth? What-"

Tony was cut off by his sister "no time, get on the jet get to North Dakota, I'm sending an exact coordinate to Jarvis" Tony's brows furrowed "did you find it?" Bruce asked in his silence "yeah it's in a bunker at an old training sight, Steve you there?" she asked

He shifted "yeah?" he almost didn't Wanna hear what she had to say "dress in loose clothing and get that suit I made you, were getting you back" he smiled slowly "right" he said

"Everyone else? Suit up!" then she hung up "sir I have received coordinate to the bunker miss stark spoke up" they looked up at Jarvis' voice "feed it to the suit I'll lead you, let's move it's a long flight, cant waste any time"

Steve sighed maybe things would work out after all.

It took 9 hours for her to reach the location another 20 for the others to arrive giving them two hours forty minutes before it was too late.

She looked as they landed, Steve and tony had flown while Natasha Clint and Sharon surprisingly had flown the jet Bruce was also there but he was going to stay back in case they needed medical help or a bunker buster.

"While I was waiting I did a scan, it looks abandoned but everyone's underground. I think it's some kind of lab, the machines on the third level, strange gave me some basic details on the layout of the building when he found it"

Sharon spoke up "strange? As in doctor strange" Beth gave a jerk of a nod "yeah me and strange had a weird working relationship, he works I give him money anyway"

She turned her head slipping into the role of commander quite well as the details of the building were projected by a mat she tossed on the ground

"Hawkeye be careful with your arrows, we have one shot at this we can't let the power in this building get disrupted it's the only machine in existence that still works, you and widow go to the main power grid clear it out widow will make sure on one touches it while you go to the security room" she pointed to the locations on the 3d map an arrow and a hour glass working where they'll be going.

She turned her head to look at her brother "ironman you and 13 are going to be covering us passed the first level, from there we part in the hall of level two, you two go right we go left, your hall should take you to a stair well to level three where the subject labs are, if they have any hostages get them out"

Then she looked at Steve "cap I'd like to tell you to stay here but we don't have time and you wouldn't even if we did" he smirked at her "you might be giving the orders right now but I'm not staying behind" she shook her head with a smirk "you're going to be on my 6, were going to make a dash for the labs where the machine is"

"that's suicide" Sharon said and she looked at the woman "while I would love to clear the building floor by floor it is huge and we old have two hours before its game over, once you have the subjects out and to the jet Hawkeye should be done shutting down the security systems he can come and help out"

She held out what looked like a flash drive to Hawkeye "that'll get you into the system copy all the files and also shut down the security so we shouldn't have to worry as much, but once you plug in you can't leave the security room until its finished" he nodded once "everyone good?"

They all nodded "then let's move out 2 hours and counting"

2:00:00

When they breached the building they found the top floor surprisingly empty Hawkeye and widow slit off at the first hall way and a couple of minutes later they herd muffled gun shots "they found the guards" she muttered and they kept moving.

1:49:52

They rounded a corner and found an entire group just standing there "trap" she muttered pulling her sword and deployed a reflector shield as they started firing she herd the pings as bullets collided with Steve's shield.

When he threw it she lunged just behind it cutting her way through hydra guards as her brother fired repulsers and Sharon fired from her guns.

When the group was down more came from behind them "go! We got this!" tony said Beth and Steve shared a glance and started down the hall

1:25:02

When they reached the elevator the lights flickered and then went red "Hawkeye?" she asked as they bolted to the stairs "power on levels one and three have gone to emergency only, but level two seems to still have full power"

She breathed a mental sigh of relief "make sure the power there stays on!" she ordered and saw a group of guards coming through the door at the bottom of the stairs "damn it!" she jumped pulling up her reflector shields again and bowled into them herd the tale tell sound of the shield and ducked as it bounded off the wall and smacked into one of the men's heads.

She picked it up and spun around smacking it into several other heads she tossed it back to cap then slammed open the door to a hallway the same red light illuminating the walls leaving deep shadows they moved toured the opposite hall.

1:03:45

When they reached the hall way wear the left goes to the stairs and the right leads to the labs Steve made a yelping sound and she spun to see a hydra soldier with his gun to Steve's head.  
"drop it" his distorted voice said and she growled then smirked slowly "you really picked the wrong parson buddy" she said the person probably a man, made a sound of confusion until Steve tightened his grip on the arm holding the gun and yanked it away then rammed his elbow into his stomach

The guy grunted breath knocked out of him as he fell to his knees dropping the gun then Steve punched him in the head making his sprawl out on the floor.

"Nice work cap" she smiled at him "kind of reminds me of the good old days" he smiled and they moved but not three steps later Steve made a sound of pain and she turned just in time to catch him "Steve? Steve are you alright?"

He just winced his skin pale in the light of the arc reactor in his suit "what's going on?" Sharon asked in her ear "rogers just went down, skins pale and clammy" she lifted one of his eyelids "eyes dilated"

She heard a sound of distress and looked to the side "what?" she asked "the serum is starting to wear off" Bruce spoke up for the first time Beth glanced at the clock in her helmet "but we still have a little less than an hour"

"Better retime it to about 20 minutes Beth" she jerked up "what?! You said 48 hours at least" a cold sweat broke out over her body "I said about 48 hours, I work with machines not DNA!" she growled softly.

A hand on her arm made her look back he was huffing slightly couldn't catch his breath but he was looking at her with a gaze she knew "I'm fine let's keep moving" Beth bit her lip and nodded then pulled him to his feet letting him lean on her.

0:27:36

With the new time limit she fought with a new since of urgency, her strikes harder her moves faster but she felt it still took too long to reach to lab "were at subject holding area, working on releasing them" tony said in her ear "security system secure I'm on my way to help ironman" Hawkeye also said but she stayed silent.

Just ahead the lights returned to normal and the red was left behind, Steve that had been steadily leaning more and more of his weight on her was barely staying upright but once they reached the lab they were looking for she sighed.

"almost there" she murmured and brushed aside things piled on top of a table lifting Steve so he could lay on it she saw his skin was even paler hair pasted down with sweat, his breathing ragged.

She turned to the wall of controls and the machine standing in the middle of the room like a golden challis.

0:15:59

She typed as fast as she could to power up the machine and it had just started humming when suddenly the doors slammed shut "how nice to see you my dear"

She whirled around to stare at a man standing by the wall "who are you?!" she demanded disliking the way he was approaching Steve, the man touched Steve's hair then his jaw tilting his head a little then released him and kept walking.

"I have many names, all you need to know is I am a head that cannot be easily cut off"

She curled her lips snarling "turn off the machine" he said she snarled more "no" he smirked "I hoped you would say that"

0:12:41

The impact of the man's fist was so sudden and so strong it made her fly against the wall, she shook her head narrowing her eyes how was he so strong "do you really think the serum they gave you miss stark is the only one they made?"

She tilted her head, he had the serum in him "shield would have never given you the serum" he laughed darkly "your right they didn't, hydra was developing their own kind, and I must say it is much more liberating"

When his hand flew into her stomach pushing her farther away from the controls she hissed and coughed "you are not one of a kind, you are pale copies of the fura, you cannot stop hydra, we have hands in everyone's pockets"

The next blow was to her face sending her to the ground, his blows stunning her "your death is long overdue; you were supposed to die in that wreck with your parents"

Her eyes went wide and she looked at him "what?" she questioned and the man grinned "what you did not know? Your parents deaths were all planned, they got in our way, if only they had stayed out of our way maybe they would have let them live out the rest of their natural lives"

She saw red even as the lights stayed white and she lunged at the man she had thought for years her parents deaths had been set up and now she knew.

Screaming she punched and kicked and blocked did everything she could to take him down, but he kept getting up "damn" she cursed "I don't have time for this"

0:07:12

She kicked out his knee brought him down and punched him hard then bolted to the panel "take down one head two more shall take its place" he said and she looked back as he rose a gun.  
"no!" she cried as the shot echoed through the small room she saw Steve jerk and then his hand fell limp hanging off the edge of the table red blood dripped from his fingertips "you!" she screamed and lunged but she was fighting wild consumed by grief.

His face was bloody but so was her own until he hit her hard in the stomach again and then in the face sending her to the floor she groaned shifted to push herself up but his boot came down on her head holding her there, she cried out.

"It is time" he said and she could hear the hammer of a gun being pulled back "for you to die" there was a moment and she closed her eyes then a sound of energy shooting through the air.

The man went stiff then fell forward.

Scrambling away she looked over, Steve had one hand risen head bleeding from a cut, the bullet must have missed, she bolted over and kissed him hard "thank god" he made a pained sound as she held him.

"The machine" he ground out and she remembered smacking a place on the armor she turned back to the controls "guys we have a problem" Natasha said

0:o4:51

She didn't look up from the counsel "what?" she questioned "we have a missile incoming, shot from a shop in the pacific" she froze for a minute "ours?" she asked

"Theirs" she cursed "is it a nuke?" she could imagine the redhead shaking her head "bunker buster"

She cursed "then get out, all of you get out now" she herd sputtering "what about you?" tony asked "the machine is charging and I have five minutes or its game over"

"That missile hits it's already game over!" she glanced back saw Steve had started shivering "are the hostages out?" she asked "Wha, yeah, yeah were getting the last one out right now"

She nodded "good, get them to the jet, I'm right behind you"

"But-"

"That's an order ironman!"

Silence greeted her and she glanced back again.

"I'm sorry"

0:01:18

"I have to do this she hit the button and the machine charged up "how long until impact?" she asked "one minute" Natasha replied "then what are you waiting for get out of here, let me know when you're out of the blast radios!"

She turned and walked to Steve sitting down beside him touching his face.

0:00:43

She could hear it buzzing now and bent down to kiss him just once more then she noticed something, he wasn't breathing.

She reached down touched his neck but couldn't feel anything

"No"

She heard a buzzing and then a sharp burring in her back and she fell forward graving Steve as the machine fired.

But she knew it was too late.

0:00:05

"Were clear" tony said looking back from the jet "Beth can you hear me" the bright orange light suddenly appeared from nowhere tony couldn't look away even as the building exploded the force wave knocking all of them to their feet.

-0:00:01

Tony picked himself up and looked at the burning hold that use to be the building, watched as a wall fell, the building orange against the pitch blackness, grey and white and black smoke billowing from the crater and the still standing doorway.

"Beth?" he asked quietly barely a whisper but all her herd was static.

He shook his head looking down then his hands curled into fists

"BETH!"

Hydra soldiers appeared surrounding them and the remains of the door a single man in all black apparently the commander walking up like he was a king.

"bring me their remains so I can hang them on my wall" he ordered and several soldiers walked toured the building as the hostages tony Bruce Natasha Clint and Sharon were all pulled out and forced to their knees tony couldn't look at anything besides the ground.

"Sir?" one of the soldiers asked making the commander turn "what?" he asked annoyed "um we thought we saw, uh nothing sir" he narrowed his eyes "what are you waiting for? Get me my trophies"

"Yes sir" the soldiers turned back to the dark door with smoke billowing out and then suddenly

Sssssslllliiiinnnngg!

Something flew out and collided with two soldiers before disappearing back into the door way and something large lunged out taking out the soldiers, the commander turned "what" was all he could get out before the thing came flying and suddenly he couldn't talk anymore.

Tony looked down and picked up the object, a charred red white and blue shield.

He looked up staring at the smoking door way, was it even possible?


	16. Chapter 16

Beth could smell the heavy Smokey scent, her entire body ached and her leg especially, she was laying somewhere, something warm under her cheek, it felt nice to her cold body.

There were voices around her whispering and murmuring, then there was one above her, she tried to decipher the words.

"-ered me, woke up in a hole didn't think I was even still alive it was so dark" wait she knew that voice.

"Good thing you're not claustrophobic huh?" a moment of silence "I was for about 5 seconds"

She pulled her eyes open slowly to see, white.

Well mostly white, she was facing a shirt that was stretched over a strong stomach, it was dirty and had what could have been burn marks on it "looks like she's waking up" she felt the hand on her side move and very carefully push at her hair "Beth?" she did know that voice.

With a soft sound she reached up to rub her head and found a bandage there, that explained the headache "ooh what hit me?" she herd sighs of relief then the voice above her spoke again.

"about 30lbs of concrete" she shifted and slowly turned her head following the dirty shirt up to a just as dirty face, one she would knew even in the darkest rooms "Steve?" she murmured and he smiled and nodded.

Her eyes were growing heavy again she she smiled and let her head fall back to his lap "welcome back"

It was three days before she opened her eyes again and this time she was in medical in Bruce's lab...

Again.

She sighed and sat up slowly muscles still tender in places "look who's finally awake" she looked to the side and saw Steve sitting in a chair with a book in his hands.

"Steve? What'd I miss?" she asked leaning back he shifted closing the book "Well apparently the machine worked, I don't know what happened after I shot that guy but I woke up like this buried under several pounds of concrete with you and the shield on top of me" he motioned at his body once again buffed out and standing a very nice six feet and two inches.

Then he motioned at her "apparently a bunker buster hit the place and you covered me, I wasn't injured, I don't think so, but you broke a few ribs and some rebar had gone through your leg"

She shifted and felt the bandages "that would explain the aches" she muttered he smirked a little and she glanced over "what?" she asked and he glanced up "what what?" she smiled a little "don't what what me, your keeping something to yourself, spill"

He glanced down to hide a smile but it didn't work "thank you" she was confused "for what" he rolled his eyes "for saving my life, twice, I'd be dead without you" she smiled just a little "I thought you were already dead"

He looked at her brow furrowing "huh?" she met his eyes "just before the missile hit and the machine went off, you stopped breathing and I couldn't find a pulse, I thought I was too late"

Settling back in his chair he looked at her strange "if you thought I was gone why stay? I bet if you had tried you could have gotten out" she was already shaking her head

"It didn't matter. If you were gone" she sighed and winced when it tweaked healing injuries "I wasn't going to leave you, I couldn't" he reached out and took her hand and she looked down to intertwined their fingers "I love you Steve, I couldn't leave you alone, not unless someone dragged me kicking and screaming"

Steve smiled slowly and bent forward when he kissed her she sighed and relaxed into it, but he pulled away too soon for her liking "I love you to grace" his use of her middle name made her shiver slightly.

It sounded nice rolling off his tongue.

"ok love birds break it up" she glanced up at Bruce and made a face "Were just talking" she complained he made a humming sound "sure" he said he was glancing at Steve and she looked back at him.

His face was red, she tilted her head to look at Bruce "hey you know he blushes every time I open my mouth" Steve swatted at her and she laughed "because you constantly try to make me blush" she shuffled away from the swat but didn't let go of his hand "ahh Bruce help captain Americas amusing a sick person! And it's not my fault you look cute when you go all red"

Bruce sighed and shook his head.

As he went down her list of injuries he pointed out some anomalies "for some reason it looks like your systems has become even stronger and your genetic code also changed" her brows furrowed and she felt Steve's hand tighten on her own "how so"

Bruce looked up saw their expression and held up his hands "whoa take it easy with the scary face, nothing harmful it just seems like you I don't know, it matches Steve's original work up more closely now?"

She tilted her head loosening her grip "I think I was hit by the machine when I was covering him just before the bunker buster, well, busted everything, maybe it copied them since technically we had some of the same DNA"

Bruce hummed to himself tilting his head like a meercat after it jumps out of its hole "maybe, but I don't see anything wrong and you've mostly healed" he held up a hand to silence her when she opened her mouth "so I think it'll be ok to go ahead and let you go to your own room"

She grinned then looked at Steve "what do ya think big guy, Wanna give me a lift?" he rolled his eyes "oh now I know why you missed me" she grinned at him "you love me and you know it"

Steve bent down and silenced her with a kiss "yes I do"

Bruce cleared his throat and they both laughed.

He carried her to her room ever gentle as he set her down on her sheets and crawled in next to her, she immediately tucked her head under his chin, body fitting against his like she was made to be there "I missed this" she sighed.

She smiled when her breath on his throat made him shiver "so did I" he admitted shifting to kiss her hair.

Silence filled the room and she knew Steve started dozing but she felt something strange under her hand, she shifted it so it was over his heart then touched her own chest and couldn't help but smile.

"Steve?"

"Hmm?"

"Our hearts are beating in time with each other"

Steve looked down at her with a soft sleepy smile and covered he hand where it rested on his chest with one of his own "I know, it's because were one"

She smiled and cuddled closer "I shouldn't have let you watch that Disney movie"

He chuckled against her hair but didn't reply and the sound of their echoing heart beats soothed them both to sleep.


End file.
